


In the Dark of the Night

by Akiko_Natsuko



Series: Roadrat [2]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, Insomnia, M/M, Memories, Protectiveness, Worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-31 00:28:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17838950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akiko_Natsuko/pseuds/Akiko_Natsuko
Summary: For someone who liked to be as loud and brash as possible regardless of the situation, Junkrat had a terrible habit of bottling up the things that truly bothered him, leaving them to break out at night when he was at his most vulnerable.





	In the Dark of the Night

    Mako’s eyes crept open as he felt movement beside them, deliberately keeping his breathing slow and even as he heard the rustle of covers, a muffled curse and then the familiar sound of metal limbs being slid into place and locked into position. The process was slower than usual, and he wasn’t sure if that was a reflection on his partner’s lack of sleep lately, or whether Jamison was actually trying to be quiet for once. If the latter, he was failing miserably, as it sounded like his fingers had slipped on one of the locks, and then he was cursing loudly and creatively for a moment, before it abruptly cut off as though he had just realised what he was doing, and Mako could feel eyes burning into his back. Searching. Waiting, and he continued to feign sleep, not sure if the act ever fooled his partner.

    However, it seemed to be enough as, after a couple of minutes of silence, Jamison moved again, finishing fixing the prosthetics into place before slipping out of bed. Mako almost moved then, wanting to stop him, just as he had longed to for the past few nights, but just like then he didn’t. Instead, frowning as he listening to the clink and rattle of junk being shoved out of the way, and the uneven gait as his partner headed for the door. However, tonight unlike those other nights he heard Jamison falter near the door, and he felt the burning gaze settle on him once more, and it was hard not to move now, to look to see what emotion was written across his partner’s face. He was glad that he didn’t when there was a soft sigh from the direction of the door. “I’m not going to lose you too…” He knew that he wasn’t supposed to hear those words or the guilt and fear in Jamison’s voice, and he forced himself to remain still, breathing steadily, as the door finally opened, and his partner slipped out of it.

   He waited half a minute before he rolled over onto his back with a heavy sigh, the bed groaning in protest beneath him. _Jamison._ It wasn’t the first time that his partner had struggled with insomnia. For someone who liked to be as loud and brash as possible regardless of the situation, he had a terrible habit of bottling up the things that truly bothered him, leaving them to break out at night when he was at his most vulnerable. They had gone through months of nightmares when they’d first met, and Jamison had been reeling from being banned from Junkertown, even though his every waking moment had been sent plotting how to return and trying to laugh it off. Other incidences had resulted in the odd bout of sleep-walking which was terrifying when your partner had an affinity for explosives, and far too many flammable items within reach, and periods of insomnia like this past week and a half.

    At least now he knew what had caused it, those whispered words that hadn’t been meant for his ears, confirming the suspicion he had been harbouring since he’d first realised his partner was sneaking out of bed in the middle of the night. _I’m not going to lose you too…_ Yes, it all made a painful kind of sense now as he glanced down at the bandages that were still wrapped around his arm, although thankfully he had been given leave to abandon the sling the day before. Still, it would be a few more days before he was able to move it without any residual pain even with Angela’s care. He had seen Jamison staring at the injury whenever he thought that he was distracted, but at least at first, he hadn’t given it much thought, because he was the same whenever his partner was injured in a fight, especially now it wasn’t just mere bounty hunters that they were facing down on a regular basis.

_But this is different…_

    This was different because Mako had been injured protecting Jamison on their last mission. It was different because he had woken up alone in the infirmary, with only Angela to reassure him that Junkrat had in fact been there, although he had fled as soon it had become apparent Mako was coming too. It was different because Jamison had avoided every single attempt to discuss what had happened, even when he seemed incapable of staying away from Mako, and because it had bled through, tainting his sleep until he was doing everything he could to avoid sleeping. And at this point, Mako suspected that he simply couldn’t fall asleep. After all, it had happened before, or never for so long, and he reached up, ignoring the twinge in his arm as he pinched the bridge of his nose, cursing himself for not saying something sooner.

_Mako whirled, tossing out his hook to yank a talon agent into the path of Jamison’s bomb, a move perfected after their time on the run. A faint smile, one that only Jamison would have spotted and recognised as a smile crossed his face, pleased that time hadn’t been entirely wasted although Junkertown and their Queen seemed almost a lifetime away now. And he was turning, ready to spray scrap at the group who had circled around their defences when he spied movement behind his partner. Crimson eyes flared, a dark form looming behind his partner, and there was something about the fluid movements that made him uneasy, even before he spied the curved blades the woman sported. Genji had warned them about these assassins, and Mako was moving before he had fully registered what he was doing._

_Junkrat saw him coming, amber eyes widening at whatever he saw in his expression, and he started to turn, but it was too late. He was going to be too late, the curved blades already arching through the air towards him. He didn’t waste his breath on a warning. Instead, he launched his hook with all the strength he could muster, barely waiting for it to connect with Jamison before he was hauling it back towards him with his partner attached. The deadly blades flashed, slicing through the space where Jamison had been a split second before, but the assassin was quick to recover. Too quick, and Mako had barely grabbed hold of Jamison before he saw the shadow lunging for them, and he twisted, moving to use his bulk to shield his partner as pain lanced through his arm from shoulder to elbow as the blades struck home._

_“_ _Ryūjin no ken wo kurae!” Genji’s voice had never been so welcome, and Mako was still moving, feeling the blades tear deeper as he wrenched them out of their teammate's path as he darted past in a flash of viridian._

_“Mako? Mako!” It was only when Jamison’s voice became a shout, that he became aware that he was still all but curled around the shorter man, shielding him. Slowly, he pulled back, the burn of his injury finally starting to register and when he glanced down it was to find that his partner was staring wide-eyed at his arm. “Mako…”_

    He should have seen it then, the guilt beneath the fear. But, it had been a haze after that as they’d been ordered to pull out, and Mako had managed to get back to the dropship under his own steam before his body had caught up on what had happened. Then he’d woken in the infirmary, with Jamison nowhere to be seen and his arm heavily bandaged, and in a sling, although he had been reassured, there would be no lingering damage, once the nanotech had finished fixing the injury.

    Grumbling under his breath, he pushed himself upright and glanced down at the offending arm. He wouldn’t, or couldn’t regret stepping in the path of that attack. However, he would be damned if he let things continue as they were. He wished that he could tear the bandages off, knowing that the sight of them wouldn’t help anything, but his arm was still a mess underneath, and he had a feeling that would be even worse for Jamison at the moment. Instead, he reached for the over-sized hoodie that he had been given the previous Christmas, that was now scorched and singed in numerous places from Jamison’s ‘experiments’, pulling it on and hiding all but the bandages around his hand from sight.

It would have to do.

    Slipping out of bed, he followed the path his partner had made through the layer of junk, making a mental note to tidy the place up while he was still off active-duty because the place was becoming more of a death trap by the day. He would need to enlist help to distract Jamison as he did so. Otherwise, the other man would argue until he was blue in the face about why they needed to hold onto each and every piece of scrap in the room. That brought a fond smile to his lips for a second, which faded again as he reached the door and stepped out into the corridor beyond, shivering in the chilly air, as the heating systems were still a work in progress in anywhere that wasn’t a highly used area.

     At least he knew where Jamison would be, so he didn’t need to waste his time searching the entire base and freezing as he did so. Making a beeline for the common area, unsurprised to see the light coming from under the door. Even when he was fretting about something, his partner required stimulation. Otherwise, things tended to explode, and Winston and Athena while tolerant of that to a limited extent, Jamison had learned to distract himself, and the common room was the best place for that. The entire team had contributed activities to the room, from the gaming system that Jamison, Hana and Lucio used, to the more vintage boardgames stacked haphazardly in the cupboard in the corner, including an old, tattered deck of cards that if Jack was to be believed he’d had since the Omnic Crisis.

    He peered through the door, not wanting to barge in if Jamison wasn’t alone, and it wasn’t unusual to find at least one other person awake at this time of night, especially lately. However, there was no one else in the room apart from his partner who was curled in the corner of the sofa, staring at the holo-screen, although Mako would have bet everything they owned that he wasn’t aware of what he was watching. He took a moment to study the other man, taking in the shadows beneath his eyes, and the weary slope to his shoulders before stepping inside. There was no reaction from the figure on the sofa, but Mako knew that his arrival had been noted and he took another couple of steps before speaking. “Come to bed.” It was an order, a plea and something else all wrapped into one, and while it didn’t get him the answer he wanted, it did get his partner to look at him.

“I can’t sleep.”

“I’m not asking you to,” Mako had played this game too many times to be pulled into that argument. They needed to talk about it, but not in the middle of the night when they were both exhausted, and when Jamison had already built himself up to be on the defensive. He could tell his partner hadn’t expected that answer, because his mouth had dropped open and for a moment at least he seemed lost for words. “I’m asking you to come to bed.” He wasn’t going to admit the fact that he probably wouldn’t be able to sleep unless Jamison was there unless he absolutely had to, knowing that as soon as his partner had moved passed the current issue, he would never hear the end of it.

“I…” The protest was as short-lived as the glance Jamison shot at the film, and Mako knew that he had won even before the screen was plunged into darkness because as much as his partner sought distraction at this time. He also sought companionship, especially his, because he knew that Mako would ask questions right away. It didn’t stop him from sounding somewhat sulky as he mumbled under his breath.  “Fine.” The agreement, no matter how reluctant or sulky gives him hope, because it means there’s a chance that Jamison will listen to him later when he actually broaches the topic, for now, though he waits patiently for the other man to rise and come to him, letting one arm fall across narrow shoulders, tugging him close.

    There’s a world of things that they need to talk about, especially as he catches the other’s eyes darting to his injured arm although the bandages are out of sight. However, now is not the time for that, but he can’t say nothing, and even as he’s guiding them out of the common room and back to bed, not knowing if either of them will get any more sleep tonight, he says the only words that he knows the other man will hear right now. The only words that might make a difference, with the possibility of sleep looming over them

“We’re safe now.”

 


End file.
